How Do You...Keep Kids Occupied On Winter Days?

How do you keep your kids from becoming stir crazy when the weather keeps everyone inside?

Granted, it's only January 17, but our winter has been mild so far and the kids ask to go outside almost every afternoon.  They've been building a playground/obstacle course on the back of our property out of logs, pieces of bamboo, and imagination.  It has occupied all five of them for hours.  

Also, we have an outside dog.  Rain or shine, wind or calm, someone has to bundle up and go outside with the dog several times a day.  As long as the weather is bearable, I ask the dog caretakers to spend extra time playing with Finn (the dog) in the afternoon.  It gets out his puppy wiggles and it gets out their kid wiggles so it works for everyone.


Today, though, the bitter icy air is scheduled to arrive and several inches of snow are predicted this afternoon. The younger kids are the ones who succumb to the stir-crazies first because they are too little to join in the outside responsibilities.  No inside activity gets them moving like when they are outside, but a rousing singing/dancing session like we often have before bed is a good substitute.   Also, simple craft projects or Play-Doh at the table, snuggling with a stack of books, or cooking treats together in the kitchen all engage the mind, if not the body. 



 

Sometimes it simply helps to leave the house, even if the actual time spent outside is minimal.   We like to go to the library or visit friends when we need a break from routine.  When we return home, we all feel refreshed from the change of pace.  

I try to adopt the attitude that the season of winter is a season for stimulating the senses instead of the muscles.  I work on developing ideas, tastes, smells, and comfort in this time when we can't be as active as some of us would like to be.   I make hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream.  I read good stories and offer bright paper to color. We play games, watch movies, and pretend.  I simmer soup and bake bread so that when we go to bed, our minds are full and satisfied, even if we have been bound by the four walls. 

How do you battle the stir-crazies?   Let us know in the comments. 

*** You can access all "How Do You...?"  posts in one place by clicking here. ***

Chapter Books For the Animal Lover

I had a conversation with my friend Allyson via her blog about reading books to young animal lovers.  She mentioned that her almost-3-year-old loves animals and that books about animals hold her attention.  I got to reminiscing about my own animal loving girl.  Maddie has had a tender heart for animals since she was a teeny thing so we have read our fair share of animal stories over the years, and still do. 

I wrote a blog post about two years ago, sharing some of our favorite animal chapter books and I'm republishing it below.

However, before I get to that,  I  have a few more to mention.




We've read Socks by Beverly Cleary twice.  It is written from the perspective of Socks who is once the pampered kitten of a young newlywed couple but feels displaced when the couple brings another "pet"-- a pet who cries-- into their home. 

 We read  Henry Huggins also by Beverly Cleary for the first time last January.  The first in the series of six books, this one tells the story of Henry finding a scraggly stray dog and his mission to adopt the mutt for his own. We read this only a month before we got our own puppy and you can believe it fed a few longings of my own 7-year-old girl who had been begging for a dog for years! 

 

James Herriot's Treasury for Children is another can't miss.  I read all of James Herriot's books for adults while I was in high school and I absolutely adored them, but many of the stories would be too complicated, or not suitable, for young listeners. (Think blood, plus medical terms and procedures.)  This volume complies some of the more appropriate stories into one place for children, complete with beautiful illustrations.

 

A Nest for Celeste by Henry Cole is full of animals-- a mouse, an osprey, a thrush, many other birds, plus a few rats and cats, too.  This was a delightful book about the painter John James Audubon and chock full of learning, all written on a young child's level (and loaded with illustrations).  Read my full review here.





And now...republished from the archives

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White is such a gem that we have read it again as each child becomes old enough to enjoy it thoroughly.  Several stuffed pigs have played the part of Wilbur and the mouse that was once Ralph has played taken his turn as Templeton, too.   I love to see my children recreate the stories spontaneously in their play. (Note from 2013: E.B. White wrote other animal stories.  Skip Stuart Little-- blah.  Read The Trumpet of the Swan in elementary school-- excellent.)

One winter we were looking for a special book to read during our month-long break from school and we selected Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater.  I remember wondering if the story was just a wee bit too advanced for them and being surprised by how much the children loved it.  I remember sitting on the edge of the bunk bed, reading a begged-for one last chapter before bed and the giggles being  infectious as we read about the penguin named Captain Cook who came to live in suburbia. 

A few summers ago we were at a loss for what to read next and I put out a call on Facebook for reading suggestions and someone suggested Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat.  I put the book on hold at the library and when it came in, we began to read almost as soon as we brought it home.  It was such a thin book with such an engaging story.  We were intrigued by the boys who were allowed  to keep owls as pets on their Canadian property.  As a mama of children who have asked for a variety of pets from spiders to dogs to sheep, this was a little scary, too! 

What better way to expose my children to a bit of poetry than to read it from a story about a mouse?  The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires is another thin little volume.  It tells the tale (pun intended!) of a little mouse who shares a room with the reclusive poet Emily Dickinson.  Snippets of poems are interspersed throughout the simple story.

One story that has stuck with my children more than any other is the one of the raccoon named Rascal.  Though there is a full-length version of the story, we were privileged to find an out-of-print copy of Little Rascal by the same author, Sterling North.  Both books tell the true story of a young boy who raises a raccoon for a year.  So fun, so touching, so memorable.  (We have several stuffed Rascals who live in the toy box with Ralph and Wilbur.)

A list of our beloved read-alouds wouldn't be complete without a mention of Thornton Burgess.  Brian has done most of the before-bed reading with our kids for several years.  It is our nighttime ritual that while I am getting the youngers ready for bed or nursing a baby, he will tuck the olders in to bed and read them a chapter or two.  We discovered Thornton Burgess's books by accident when my sister cleaned off her bookshelves and passed The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon on to our family.  After devouring the slim novel, the kids asked for more, but a local library search turned up only a few more in the series.  When I discovered that Amazon carried many more for only $2 a book, Brian purchased a small stack for our personal collection and Burgess became the nightly selection for more than a year while they acquainted themselves with Jimmy Skunk and Sammy Jay and Buster Bear and more of their animal friends. 

a January Saturday

Today (Sunday) is Brian's 34th birthday.  However, we celebrated at home yesterday on a warm, foggy Saturday, perhaps the warmest Brian has ever experienced on his usually wintery birthday!

For dinner, we ate  herbed beef stew and  honey cornbread with mint chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  (Click on the highlighted words for recipes. They're some good ones!)

After the meal,  the kids gathered around their daddy with cards and the pictures they had been drawing and hiding under the bed all throughout the week.

We also gave him a giant card that we made together (complete with enough candy to last him weeks).  It said:

We were going to give you a WHOPPer-ing 100 GRAND for your birthday, but the $ slipped through our BUTTERFINGER-s.  We didn't have an EXTRA WHATCHAMACALLIT to sell and it wasn't PAYDAY.  We didn't think another pet KITKAT, a trip to New YORK, or an ORBIT around the MILKY WAY would be good.  We do want to wish you MOUNDS of ALMOND JOY  We hope it doesn't make you ROLO-ver and get sick as you eat this gift! 

  Love,                      
Your fave AIRHEADS

After our mini festivities, Alaine went to bed while the boys gathered in their room for a LEGO building session.  Maddie and I headed out for for a Miss America viewing party with my mom and sisters, and Brian stayed  home to watch his favorite football team, who won their game and are headed to the NFC Championship game next Sunday.

A happy January Saturday.

How Do You...Find Time To Read Aloud to Your Children?

After taking a break from this series this past month, it is back for the new year.  I'm in need of questions for future "How Do You...?" posts. If you have an idea, share in the comments or send me a private e-mail!  I'd love to hear from you.

Between cooking meals, school, changing diapers, and the normal running of a household, how do you find the time to read long books to your children?

My easy answer is we don't find time, we make time to read.  However, that does not answer the specifics of how we actually do carve time out of our day when each day is already full. 

I've found that the best chance of having everyone together to read is to choose a time when we are together anyway.  During the school year, this happens in the morning. I call all five kids for school, but before we sit down at the table, we settle on the couch for a chapter or two of our fun book first. 

Meal times and bed times work well for us, too.  Currently we have one book I read to the kids aloud after lunch (The BFG), another I read to the whole family after dinner (Encyclopedia Brown and the Case of the Dead Eagles), and another I read to Maddie before bed (Candlelight for Rebecca). 

During busier times of the year, it is not practical for us to be in the middle of three books at once!  I settle for reading one chapter of the same book once a day.  As long as I'm reading consistently, albeit slowly, it is still enjoyable and beneficial to all of us. 


How do you find time to read to your children?  Do you have a specific time set aside or do you read spontaneously?   Let us know in the comments.

*** You can  access all "How Do You...?"  posts in one place by clicking here. ***

A Warm Winter Day

Warm Winter Day equals a trip to the zoo...

...and take-out pizza for dinner.
(Early bedtime, too.)

A Book For the New Year

I've spent much time since Christmas speaking of my goals for the coming months and of books I want to read, both to myself and to my children.  Dare I propose to you that there is a book that all moms should read in this new year that could bring all of our goals and aspirations into focus? 

The first book I checked off my list this year was Desperate: Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe by Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson.  Haven't we all been there?  I remember clearly having three small children, ages three and under.  When Owen was born, Gavin was three and Maddie was two years, two weeks old.  Owen was a fussy, sensitive, snuggly, needy baby.  Most days were about tending to the basics-- getting everyone dressed and fed-- and most days I felt inadequate and helpless.  I have good memories of that time, but I still wondered if I played enough, smiled enough, loved enough. 

Fast forward six years.  I now have five children, ages ten and under, and it's a different world.  My youngest is independent and confident.  My oldest children help with everything from laundry to dishes, plus they are companions to me and to each other.  I don't have as many feelings of desperation, but I still wonder if I discipline enough or too much, if I'm teaching them what they need to know or pushing them to learn what they're not ready for.  

Once I began this book, I wanted to keep reading.  It was a balm to my soul.  I found myself nodding along and I found myself searching my heart. I loved the conversational style and I loved how the authors took turns writing, one from a "living it now" perspective and the other from a "been there, done that" mentor perspective.  What made this book so refreshing was that it was not a how-to book of ideas or suggestions.  Instead it spoke of accepting motherhood with selflessness and of seeing our children as souls needing grace.  

My favorite passage from the book, and the one that has come back to me over and over, was when Sarah Mae speaks of a story that Sally Clarkson told from her time as a young mother: 

"She felt like her efforts weren't proving fruitful, and no matter what she did with her children or how many times she told them what to do, it wasn't working.  Clay [her husband] said to her, 'Honey, at what age did you stop sinning? Because that's when our children will stop.' " 

Desperate is not a book of formulas or trendy parenting advice. It speaks to the heart of mothers with Biblical edification.  It takes the pressure off of families to be perfect and lays a foundation for grace-filled parenting.  

Sarah Mae says, "There are forty different ways to parent, but we need to ask, 'Lord, how do you want me to raise my kids?' "

*****

I was provided an advanced reading copy of this book through BookSneeze®, but all opinions are my own.